U.S. Highway 90 Alternate is an alternate route to

U.S. Highway 90 U.S. Route 90 or U.S. Highway 90 (US 90) is an east–west major United States highway in the Southern United States. Despite the "0" in its route number, US 90 never was a full coast-to-coast route. With the exception of a short-lived ...

in the U.S. state of Texas, running from west of Seguin east via Seguin,

Gonzales Gonzales may refer to: Places * Gonzales, California, U.S. * Gonzales, Louisiana, U.S. * Gonzales, Texas, U.S. * Gonzales County, Texas Other uses * Battle of Gonzales, 1835 * Gonzales (horse) (1977 – after 1996), an American-bred Thoroughbred ...

Hallettsville Hallettsville is a city in Lavaca County, Texas, United States. Its population was 2,731 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Lavaca County. Hallettsville also has a sizable German-Texan population as the towns founders were mainly German ...

, Eagle Lake, Rosenberg and Sugar Land to northeastern Houston. South of Downtown Houston, US 90 Alternate is built to freeway and near-freeway standards along a section of South Main Street.

Route description

US 90 Alternate begins at

and

Farm to Market Road 464 A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used f ...

west of Seguin and heads east through downtown Seguin on Court Street. (US 90 travels on Kingsbury Street, just 15 blocks to the north.) From Seguin to Rosenberg, US 90 Alternate passes through mainly rural areas. Just west of downtown Rosenberg, it merges with Spur 529, part of

US Highway 59 U.S. Route 59 (US 59) is a north–south United States highway (though it was signed east–west in parts of Texas). A latecomer to the U.S. numbered route system, US 59 is now a border-to-border route, part of the NAFTA superhighway, NAFTA ...

until 1976. US 59 used to run concurrent with US 90 Alternate between Rosenberg and southwest of downtown Houston, but it was relocated to the US 59 as construction of the freeway between Houston and Rosenberg was completed in stages from 1961 to 1976. In 2017, US 90 Alternate and FM 1640 were converted to a one-way pair in Rosenberg, with US 90 Alternate carrying westbound traffic and FM 1640 carrying eastbound traffic. After Rosenberg, US 90 Alternate passes through

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

, Sugar Land,

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...

and Missouri City before entering Houston. US 90A in Sugar Land between State Highway 6 and the Southwest Freeway is an 8 lane boulevard with at-grade signalized intersections. A section in Stafford from the Southwest Freeway to Promenade Boulevard (east of Dulles Avenue) is a short controlled access highway similar in design to the one which stretches from Present Street to the

South Loop The Loop, one of Chicago's 77 designated community areas, is the central business district of the city and is the main section of Downtown Chicago. Home to Chicago's commercial core, it is the second largest commercial business district in Nort ...

. There it crosses the

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into the Houston city limits and becomes South Main Street. A few miles down, the highway meets the current northern terminus of the

Fort Bend Toll Road The Fort Bend Parkway Toll Road is the Fort Bend County (i.e.,southern) portion of a continuous toll road connecting Sienna Plantation in eastern Fort Bend County to US 90A in southwestern Harris County. It is administered by the Fort Bend Coun ...

. The short

controlled-access highway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

portion of US 90 Alternate—part of which has local access ( right-in/right-out), but no

median In statistics and probability theory, the median is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample, a population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as "the middle" value. The basic fe ...

breaks – currently begins east of Present Street in Stafford just before the

and ends just short of Interstate 610. The controlled access portion, with the section between Interstate Highway 610 to just west of Holmes Road was completed in 2002 and the section from just west of Holmes Road to just east of the

completed in 2007 has 6 lanes without interior or exterior shoulder lanes, plus exit lanes and a maximum speed limit of for most of its length. These portions were previously a four-lane divided highway with exterior shoulder lanes, crossovers, and at grade crossings with major thoroughfares. North of I-610, US 90A becomes the widest street in Houston with 10 through lanes and several turning lanes. This section, previously a four-lane divided highway, was upgraded to its current width between 1999 and 2001. The 10 lane right of way of US 90A between the Old Spanish Trail (OST) and the South Loop was planned to ease access to the NRG Park (formerly Reliant Park and the Astrodomain) complex parking lots west of NRG Stadium. Further north, US 90A splits from South Main Street onto the OST, becoming a six lane boulevard heading east to cross State Highway 288 (South Freeway) with a grade separated street-to-street intersection with Griggs Road, and meets the southern terminus of Spur 5 adjacent to the campus of the University of Houston. After crossing Spur 5, it turns into a four-lane undivided road, crossing Brays Bayou and turning northeast onto Wayside Drive, crossing Interstate Highway 45 (

Gulf Freeway Interstate 45 (I-45) is a major Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of Texas. While most Interstate routes which have numbers ending in "5" are cross-country north–south routes, I-45 is comparatively short, with the ...

). Between Polk Street until after crossing over the ship channel, it divides into two one-way streets. US 90 Alternate West (southbound) is Wayside Drive while US 90 Alternate East (northbound) goes down S/SGT

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Drive (formerly 69th Street). At Interstate Highway 10/

(East Freeway), US 90 Alternate turns east to multiplex with I-10/US 90 for a short jog, then turning north onto McCarty Street. US 90 Alternate ends at the junction with Interstate Highway 610 in northeastern Houston, where Business U.S. Highway 90-U continues northeast on McCarty Street. Texas Department of Transportation
1992 map of Harris County Texas
(highways revised to January 1, 1994)

History

US 90 Alternate was designated on May 25, 1942, replacing SH 343. On March 28, 1952, the section from Columbus to Eagle Lake became part of FM 102. US 90A was instead rerouted over portions of SH 200 and SH 3.

Major intersections

References

{{reflist

External links

*Feldstein, Dan.
South Main widening to `super street' may start in late '97/8-lane road not without opponents concerned with traffic, noise
" '' Houston Chronicle''. Monday August 12, 1996. A17. *Staff.
Squeeze to be put on South Main commuters
" '' Houston Chronicle''. Thursday July 13, 2000. A27. 90 Alternate (Texas) 90 Alternate Alternate (Texas) 090 Alternatea Transportation in Harris County, Texas Transportation in Fort Bend County, Texas Transportation in Wharton County, Texas Transportation in Colorado County, Texas Transportation in Lavaca County, Texas Transportation in Gonzales County, Texas Transportation in Guadalupe County, Texas Seguin, Texas Rosenberg, Texas Sugar Land, Texas Missouri City, Texas